


scars to your beautiful

by Jade_Kelly



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Actor AU, Angst, Background Relationships, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, I love my boys, Multi, SO, Slow Burn, and they're like "well this helped out chemistry might as well do in a platonic way", basically they're actors who accidently sleep together, except friends with benefits never works, good ol sprace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 15:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18831514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Kelly/pseuds/Jade_Kelly
Summary: Katherine gave up on acting after the incident. She lost all passion for it. That doesn't stop her father from signing her up for auditions and forcing her to attend. So she already wasn't in a good place when her costars invited her out for drinks to celebrate the start of the new TV Show. She was in an even worse place when she realised that a mistake quickly boosted her career, sending Katherine into a fun, but dangerous friends-with-benefits relationship with her romantic costar, Jack Kelly.





	scars to your beautiful

Katherine wasn’t passionate about acting. Her father was, without a doubt, but her heart didn’t leap at the thought of a new job opportunity or new movie offer. It didn’t really do anything. But, he still signed her up for every theatre class and acting class, and here she was, staring at her script that just arrived in the mail. 

She was playing Alya, a girl on a new teen romance show. As all of Hollywood, despite her character being a teen, Katherine was 24. So was every male at the audition for the love interest Kai. 

After a callback, or four, she suddenly got a phone call saying she got the part. Like all of her other acting jobs recently, her heart didn’t soar and she didn’t squeal internally, she had to put her excitement on for show though. 

She wasn’t expecting this call especially since towards the end of her never-ending callbacks, her moral decreased. The pain Andrew caused her still freshly burnt into her heart, possibly forever. She wasn't expecting this considering she nearly burst into tears at the third and fourth callback. Honestly, she didn’t mind. If she never received a call, she wouldn’t have gone into a depressive state and hid in her room. She would’ve shrugged and probably gone to get coffee and a pastry. 

Yet, her back hunched over her kitchen counter with the thick, rough paper in her hands and the logo on the front, Its Nearly Prom. Underneath, the word Alya was scribbled. 

She phased when she tried to remember what she actually auditioned for. She read lines from episode 5’s script and did chemistry tests with scenes from episode 9. 

From what she remembers, she had to get up close and personal in the chemistry test, hands going over arms and playing footsy under the table. Unlike what the show described, it likely wasn’t going to be a ‘slow-burn’ if they’re already that close by episode 9. 

Her eyes started dropping just recalling the 10 chemistry tests in only 3 days. She remembers some of the actors seemed too hot to be human and she wanted to jump them there and then. Others were great actors, but couldn’t show it on their face, which is a big part of character chemistry, which made her cringe a little. Acting has so many layers to it, and some roles demand all of them to be mastered.

There was two she remembered she had great chemistry with, one guy called Darcy who had a very childlike face with somewhat short brown hair. The other seemed older, called Jack, who had a more defined jawline and an amazing smirk. 

Darcy was more cute, whereas Jack was definitely hotter. She didn’t have a preference, but she hoped one of them got it. It’s not like she was interested in dating someone. That was far behind her after the incident with Andrew, but it’s always more fun working with someone who you have chemistry with. Who knows, they could be friends. 

Katherine hands quickly started to turn the pages, her eyes scanning over some of the words. She wasn’t sure if the romantic tone was meant to be subtle, but it was certainly glaring straight at her. Kai and Alya. Opposites attract. They kept saying it was ‘slow burn’ but the flirting and winking found in episode one said otherwise. 

Katherine entered her table read session into her phone calendar and made her to her room, her body hunching from tiredness, planning to collapse instantly. After showering and her nightly routine of course. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew she was gorgeous. She could be a model. Andrew used to tell her that if acting failed, she could always turn to model. After the incident with him, she was certain that was her next career. Now, even though her acting career has been saved by her father, she knows she’s getting roles due to her looks. She doesn’t care though. If people focus on the looks, they won’t second guess themselves. Acting, with her family history, money and looks, was an easy way to make money. 

‘I guess Andrew thought so too’.

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗  
feel alright for the rest of your life  
╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

 

Katherine’s nightless slumber was interrupted with her now very obnoxious alarm. 

‘Right, she had the table reading today’.

She got ready, making no effort to make herself look presentable. It was just reading the script. Who cares?

She was one of the first people at the studio where they were doing the reading. She recognised the director and some of her cast mates from the audition. They were hurried into a large conference room with the director having a stressed look on his face. He was pacing and muttering under his breath, with Katherine catching phrases like ‘late’ and ‘knew it was a mistake’.

It was ten minutes after they were meant to start and everyone was still sitting around. The pieces clicked in her brain. Her costar was late. And being the main character, they couldn’t start without him. People started to pull out their phones, mindlessly scrolling through them, waiting for their time to be spent wisely. Kath felt the same way. She had plans, and even though that consisted of Netflix and red wine, it was still plans and she would still rather be in the comfort of her own home, rather than scratchy chairs and waiting for a late costar. 

The door swinging open broke her from her trance and she was met with a puffed face. She remembers him. Jack. 

‘I guess he got the lead’.

He started rattling off an apology. He had a really thick New York accent, so I guess the accent he’s using in the show is fake. His dark brown hair was sticking to his forehead from sweating and his skin looked flush. When he was wiping the sweat, Katherine couldn’t help but notice the definition in his arms.

‘Nope, not going down that rabbit hole again.’.

Jack and the director had some quiet words before he introduced Jack and asked him to be seated. 

“Kath’rine right? Yeah, I’se remember you,” He said, holding out his hand, obviously to shake. She knew it was sweaty, but she shook it anyway, cringing at the wetness. 

“And you must be Jack.”

“One and only,” He said with a wink.

‘Oh boy’.

After an hour or so of reading, they were given a quick ten-minute break. 

She was leaning against the wall, scrolling through her Instagram feed when she heard someone call her name. She spun and saw her costar David Jacobs with some of the other male actors, including Jack. He called her over to where they were sitting, all introducing themselves before David started talking.

“We’re going out for drinks later to celebrate the start of the series and everything, wanna come?”

She didn’t really. She still wanted to go home and watch Netflix, but she agreed anyway. They seemed nice. 

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗  
feel alright for the rest of your life  
╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

 

Soon the reading was over and she was able to go home, and instead of fulling her plans, spend them getting to know people who will probably annoy her the most in the next couple of months. 

She didn’t want to go over the top. It was just drinks. So she stuck to a simple A-line dress and put minimal makeup on. 

When she arrived, the boys cheered, hollering her name. 

‘I guess they’ve already had a few’.

She made her way to the back of the bar and slid into the booth. She greeted all of them before ordering some wine. It wasn’t as good as her Cabernet Sauvignon, but it was something. The boys mostly had beer or scotch. 

They started talking about what they think is coming up for the show and where all their characters are headed. The show promotes that even it’s minor characters get development, so all the boys are pretty excited about that. One of them, Anthony (everyone called him Race though, no idea why) said that he was normally used for stunts or just extras so he was pretty excited for this. The other boys nodded and agreed. 

Katherine noticed Jack stayed pretty quiet throughout the night, she barely noticed him when she arrived. He nodded along idly, rarely adding any comments. 

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗  
feel alright for the rest of your life  
╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

A couple of drinks into the night, and with half the gang still there, others have returned home to families, they suggested they go somewhere more fun. Katherine was pretty tipsy and didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow, so if she drunk responsibility, she’d be alright.

That plan went out the window when they arrived at the nightclub. Katherine’s mind turned off and she decided that she must try every exotic sounding drunk on the menu, getting her hopelessly drunk. She was on the dance floor, dancing with some random guy when Jack stood in, also drunk off his ass. She hesitated for a second but shrugged and started dancing with him, getting way too close to what Sober Katherine would have liked. They were quickly grinding against each other, sharing the same, hot and alcohol smelling breath. 

Jack whispered hoarsely in her ear.

“Come back to mine.”.

The sane part of her left and she nodded before grabbing his hand and leading him out of the club. She quickly hailed a taxi, Jack still breathing down her neck. They got in, Jack giving his address before leaning over, catching her in a hard and sloppy kiss. She quickly reciprocated, her hands running through her hair and his down and back and around her waist. They continued until they reached Jack’s apartment, clumsily made their way upstairs to his door. Jack hastily searched for the key, finally unlocking it and pushing her inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to update as much as possible. Comment and don't forget to leave kudos!
> 
> xx


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